After spending nearly an hour attempting to remove a license plate light bulb I gave up. I'm not a neophyte at car repair nor am I a shade tree mechanic but this is ridiculous! Not having acquired the repair manual I had to resort to the car owner's manual. The instructions have you rotate the bulb socket a quarter turn, pull the bulb and socket out from it's position and replace the bulb. In fact, I immediately knew that once the socket was turned a quarter turn it was going to move towards the interior of the space; not "out" as indicated in the car owner's manual. The socket has a large rubber base behind it that prevents it from being pulled out from it's location. If the bulb is meant to be removed from it's socket while in situ well it wouldn't come out. Access must only be had from behind the panel. I went so far as to remove the entire plastic facia behind the hatch only to find the socket still inaccessable. It would appear that the exterior plastic housing for the hatch latch and bulbs must be removed. Anyone have a clue?

REMOVAL
NOTE: The following procedure is for replacement of a license plate lamp bulb. The license plate lamps are integral to the liftgate handle and light bar unit. If any part of this unit is ineffective or damaged, the entire handle and light bar unit must be replaced.

Fig 1.
1. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative cable.
2. Reach under the liftgate handle and light bar unit (2) to access and depress the latch tab (3) on the outboard side of the license plate lamp lens toward the lens (1).
3. Pull the outboard side of the lens downward far enough to disengage the two tabs on the inboard side of the lens from the lamp housing.
4. Remove the lens from under the handle and light bar.

Fig 2.
5. Firmly grasp and pull the bulb (1) straight out of the socket (2) in the outboard side of the lamp housing.

Installation

Fig 2.
1. Align the base of the bulb (1) with the socket (2) in the outboard side of the license plate lamp housing.
2. Push the bulb straight into the socket until the base is firmly seated.

Fig 1.
3. Position the lens (1) over the lamp housing under the handle and light bar unit (2).
4. Engage the two tabs on the inboard side of the lens into the slots on the inboard side of the lamp housing.
5. Push the outboard side of the lens upward until the lens latch tab (3) is fully engaged in the lamp housing.
6. Reconnect the battery negative cable.

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